a boat chugs
up the river:
never to return.
One-Way [Haiku]
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Tag Archives: poetry
“Difference” by Stephen Vincent Benét [w/ Audio]
My mind's a map. A mad sea-captain drew
it
Under a flowing moon until he knew it;
Winds with brass trumpets, puffy-cheeked
as jugs,
And states bright-patterned like Arabian
rugs.
"Here there be tygers." "Here we buried
Jim."
Here is the strait where eyeless fishes swim
About their buried idol, drowned so cold
He weeps away his eyes in salt and gold.
A country like the dark side of the moon,
A cider-apple country, harsh and boon,
A country savage as a chestnut-rind,
A land of hungry sorcerers.
Your mind?
--Your mind is water through an April
night,
A cherry-branch, plume-feathery with its
white,
A lavender as fragrant as your words,
A room where Peace and Honor talk like
birds,
Sewing bright coins upon the tragic cloth
Of heavy Fate, and Mockery, like a moth,
Flutters and beats about those lovely
things.
You are the soul, enchanted with its
wings,
The single voice that raises up the dead
To shake the pride of angels.
I have said.
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Worldly Concerns [Kyōka]
Buddha's lap,
a pigeon lands:
a monk shoos
the bird away,
but Buddha didn't mind.
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Nostalgia [Free Verse]
Eight thousand miles
from my childhood home,
I'm pulled into a nostalgic
reverie
by the scent of straw
and cow shit.
This place,
on the other side of the world,
looks nothing like where I
grew up,
but that smell...
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“Of the Surface of Things” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]
I
In my room, the world is beyond my
understanding;
But when I walk I see that it consists of three or
four
hills and a cloud.
II
From my balcony, I survey the yellow air,
Reading where I have written,
"The spring is like a belle undressing."
III
The gold tree is blue,
The singer has pulled his cloak over his head.
The moon is in the folds of the cloak.
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River Drift [Haiku]
Mirror World [Free Verse]
Right-side-up or upside-down?
The flooded country becomes
a mirror world.
I spin in float
on a coracle boat --
mind fuzzy,
orientation unclear.
I feel I could flip,
and not take a dip,
but be righted
upside-down,
in the world beyond.
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“Jade Cup” by Zhang Ju [w/ Audio]
The West winds tumble fallen leaves;
Autumn 's yellow, though blooms are shy;
I brush at dust upon my sleeves;
The horses' hoofprints dot the frost;
Moonlit cocks crow amid grain sheaves;
The road to town: no passersby.
Fame 's not gained by effort or skill,
And would fade away ten years hence.
Please don't dance, but drink your fill.
Six Dynasty tales flow away:
Diluted as waters spread and spill.
The world feels like dream and pretense.
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Winter Rooster [Senryū]
BOOKS: 木兰辞 [Ballad of Mulan] by Anonymous
The Ballad of Mulan: 木兰辞 by Song Nan ZhangMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Available online at YellowBridge
This is a short lyric poem (15-1/2 quatrain, or 62 lines) that tells the story of a young woman who disguises herself as a man and joins the military to fill a slot that would otherwise have required her aged and infirm father to serve. The tiny poem packs in ten-plus years, during which Hua Mulan serves with great distinction and then returns home to take care of her parents. It’s a well-known tale that emphasizes the importance of filial piety and sacrifice. Though outside of China (as well as Taiwan and other Chinese cultural enclaves,) many may know it from the Disney version which has been panned for ditching the Confucian values and replacing them with ones that were thought would resonate better with a Western audience.
The poem is mostly arranged in quatrains of five-character lines with alternate line rhymes.
It’s a quick read and there is no room for the detailed tales of heroism that are depicted in adaptations.
If one is looking for a culturally insightful telling of the story of Hua Mulan, this is the right place to look. I’d highly recommend reading it.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 